Let's Take A Walk

At Booker Creek.

Park in the Home Team's parking lot, don't have to cross Franklin Street.

Headphones - check. Purse in trunk - check. Keys in hand - check.

First, start the music player...now....figure out the Cardio Trainer app...stop the apps music player because I already started the "real" one...okay...re-start the workout...now re-start the music playlist...put phone in pocket...pause the workout inadvertently...take phone out of pocket...restart the workout...lock phone...NOW put in pocket...
And we're off.

It's about noon and I'm regretting my wardrobe choice (a heavy long sleeved tee-shirt) because it's hot! All the leaves have fallen off the trees so the path, deliciously shaded in summer, is now exposed.

Passed a small gaggle of coltish teenagers with mothers? aunts? followed by a mother and her young (5-6) year old daughter.  That's right, left them in the dust.

[Calories burned: twenty nine. Or so says the male vaguely British Cardio Trainer app voice]

You know what I've noticed? Runners rarely nod to walkers. Other runners - yes. Walkers mostly nod or acknowledge other walkers. Like RV campers and tent campers - two groups who think the other group is stupid. As a tent camper, I found RVer's to be rude and inconsiderate neighbors for the most part.

Know what else? If you see someone more than once, the greetings decline. About the third or fourth pass, you just politely look at the ground. Or up at the trees. Or pretend your phone/MP3 player is acting up.

Older men are all or nothing: a full good afternoon or the slight head bob.

[Calories burned: eighty six]

I thought about light poles and telephone poles and wondered why we don't put them underground. They make it hard to take pictures of trees holding their white hallelujah hands up to the Carolina blue sky.

Much cropping involved

Obviously good photo opps is not the only reason underground lines seem like a good idea. There are hurricane and ice storm reasons.

Thinking about the singer of the Video Games video and I wonder - What it would be like to go through life looking like that? I have never had that kind of beauty or power - that I was aware of anyway.
Reminded me of The April Witch by Ray Bradbury. The premise of the story, as I vaguely recall, was this: a witch possesses a girl to experience love.
What it would be like to go through life looking like that? I can't even imagine.

[Calories burned: one hundred twenty five]

I thought about this blog and what I would write about. Thought about the man with a Jack Russell and a poodle because it seemed like an odd dog combo.

Another Jack Russell was walking off leash and he came over to greet me. He was all white except for the left side of his head, which was black. They are cute dogs. Too smart (and active) for me though.

I thought about how the sidewalk was slippery with the crumbled brown carcasses of dead leaves, pine needles, and sweet gum balls.

Erv Evans, NC State University

I thought about my mother dying and all the things I'll need to do: call the VA, the Coast Guard, Social Security, TROSA, my siblings, my mother's friends (not necessarily in that order of course). I thought about death certificates and where do I get them. How many will I need? Ten? Fifteen? What about her taxes? What am I not thinking of? What don't I know that I don't know?

I thought about squirrels and birds and pondered on why the air smelled vaguely of the sea.

Then I had walked two miles.

[Calories burned: Two hundred and sixty six - the equivalent of  four oranges]